Half Marathon, here I come!

Originally, when my mom and I were discussing ideas for the blog, we weren’t sure if we wanted to include exercise and working out type posts. The reason that we ultimately decided that we should is because we think that healthy eating and exercise often go hand in hand as part of maintaining a ‘healthy lifestyle’. Since exercise is a regular part of both of our lives, it is something that should be included here. Also, as I have started writing this blog I have noticed that a lot of times when I make a bigger recipe, I end up eating it for a week straight! I absolutely hate wasting food and if I’m eating the same thing over and over again, I don’t want to bore you guys with the same old thing. Just like we don’t post everything that we eat everyday, we probably won’t post our everyday workouts but we will have occasional posts about different workouts and try to mix it up as much as we can. I try to mix up my workouts anyways so I don’t get bored and actually look forward to working out, so I think that will help in keeping the workouts posted here new and original. I tend to make up a lot of my own weight lifting routines, so let me know if you guys would have an interest in seeing a sample type weight lifting routine, or any workout really and I can start that post in the works.

That brings me to the title of this post. Today I just registered for my very first half marathon! I’m so excited, I’m so excited…I’m so SCARED! you guys remember that one don’t you? I had been thinking about it/talking about it for a while but signing up and signing over 80 bucks makes it official. I am running the 13.1 half on June 4! Two of my friends also signed up which I am excited about because I think it will make training a lot more fun.

I have been a ‘runner’ since high school. I use the word in quotations because I honestly don’t think of myself as a runner, but I guess other people might consider me one.

Speed Racer!

This picture makes me laugh because I look like I am about to puke. I actually remember that race and from what I remember I probably did feel that way.

I wouldn’t say that I love running, I actually have more of a love/hate relationship with it. I think running is one of the best stress relievers and it does allow me to clear my head. Having a good run where I feel good and am enjoying the run is one of the best feelings ever. To me, running also feels like one of the best workouts. But, that being said, there are plenty of days when I absolutely want to do anything except run from the first minute in until the end. I know that many people say you can’t judge a run by the first mile, so I often times try to stick it out, but sometimes running honestly makes me want to die (extreme? yes i know).

Also, even though I ran cross-country in high school and we were running a lot (6 days per week, sometimes 2x per day), the distances weren’t ever super far. I think the longest distance I have run at one time is 7 miles. While I am excited to train and I think I will feel great saying that I completed a half, I also don’t like feeling like I have to run on a certain day. I like to base my workouts on what I feel like doing that day. I also don’t want to get burnt out. I have seen quite a few training plans where running is done around 3 times per week, with distance increasing each week of training. I think I want to limit my runs to 3 or so times per week so I don’t suffer from any running burnout or injuries. Here is my tentative plan at the moment:

This plan is kind of a starting point at least and what I can base my training plans off of. I knew there were a few things that I wanted:

1. I wanted to make sure and include some speed work because I think that is important to running faster. While I am definitely NOT running for a specific timed goal in my first half, I do want to be able to run it keeping a pace of at least 9:30ish minute miles. If I can go faster than that, great! If not, no big deal.

2. I don’t want to give up weight training. I think weight training is just as important to keep muscles strong, etc. I want to continue to weight train at least 2 times per week

3. Running really does tighten up muscles a lot. Because I suck at stretching before and after I run (horrible habit that I can’t seem to break), I think I will need to incorporate some yoga/pilates to stretch out after all that running. Even if it is a light yoga class on my off days, I want to incorporate yoga at least once per week.

4. I know I want to keep my training flexible. I have a few weddings in May and I know it will be a struggle to get my long runs in on the weekend, so I’m hoping to be able to switch days around when I need to get a long run in during the week and know that I need to be flexible as far as what gets done when.

And that is all I’ve got so far!

As far as food, tonight I had baked tilapia with beets (yum) and sautéed kale. This was my first time sauteing kale and I really liked it. I used purple kale which is so pretty!!

Here is the recipe:

Lemon Ginger Kale

1 bunch of kale, de-stemmed

1-2 cloves of garlic

1/2 lemon (juice) and also some zest

5 or so pieces of crystallized ginger, or you could use fresh ginger and grate about 1 T. If you are using ground ginger, I would use a little less, maybe 1-2 t.

1-2 T olive oil.

Heat the oil (1 T only) and garlic in a pan. Once the garlic is hot, add the kale and ginger. Stir and squeeze lemon juice over the kale. Cook until wilted and bright green. Add lemon zest if you want to use it. The second T of oil should be used if all of the liquid has cooked up.

Kale seems to dry up pretty quickly, and you don’t want it to be overly dry. Not only will it not taste as good but it will burn the pan too! I was hoping the kale would be purple in color, but it is mostly the stalks that are purple.

Overall, I really like kale and think it is a great alternative to cooked spinach from time to time. Stay tuned for another kale related post coming soon!

Karen and Katie

Hi, we are Karen and Katie (mother and daughter), living in Detroit and Chicago. We both love food, fitness and healthy living and started this blog to help document and share our lives through food, recipes, exercise and more! Thanks for stopping by our corner of the blogworld! Email us at info@2peasinablog.com